Catalaphyllia jardinei
Saville-Kent, 1893
Description: Colonies are flabello-meandroid with straight edged septa forming wide V-shaped valleys. Valleys are evenly spaced and have sharp edged walls. Septa are widely spaced. There are no columellae. Polyps have large tubular tentacles extending from large fleshy oral discs. Forms satellite colonies (like the poritid Goniopora stokesi) in aquaria.
Color: Distinctive green with pink tentacle tips and a striped oral disc.
Habitat: Occurs in protected, preferably turbid water.
Abundance: Seldom common but conspicuous. Rare in the western Indian Ocean.
Similar Species: Flabello-meandroid Euphyllia are similar but have septa which steeply plunge at the valley centre and do not form V-shaped valleys.
Source reference: Veron (2000). Taxonomic references: Wells (1971a), Veron and Pichon (1980). Identification guides: Veron (1986), Nishihira and Veron (1995).
One of the most beautiful of all corals, this colour pattern is found throughout most of the species’ distribution range. Great Barrier Reef, Australia Photograph: Ed Lovell
With tentacles retracted. Colonies from an isolated population in mainland Japan have colour distinctions, but otherwise are indistinguishable from colonies in tropical locations. Honshu, Japan Photograph: Moritaka Nishihira
Small colonies consist mostly of fleshy polyps with small underlying skeletons. Sulawesi, Indonesia Photograph: Roger Steene
Skeletal detail. Showing V-shaped valleys.